A disjointed Blues were losing 1-0 to a first-half Wayne Rooney goal when the freshly signed defender from Brazil smashed the ball into the bottom corner of the Matthew Harding End net shortly after the restart, giving his side a foothold in the game.
As both sides counter-attacked furiously in what developed into a very entertaining contest, it was Chelsea that finished strongest, and were rewarded by a penalty for a foul on substitute Yury Zhirkov. Just to compound Man U misery, Nemanja Vidic was sent-off in stoppage time.
David Luiz was available for selection once again so was drafted back into central defence for his full home debut with Branislav Ivanovic moving to right-back, Jose Bosingwa dropping to the bench.
He was joined there by Paulo Ferreira in a late switch to the subs after Mikel felt a problem with his knee in the warm-up.
The team shape remained 4-4-2 with Man United unchanged and 4-4-1-1, Rooney playing behind Hernandez in their attack.
It was a flying start to the game in terms of pace and Chelsea wasted a great chance to score after only four minutes. It came from a rapid counter-attack, David Luiz bringing the ball out of the area and feeding fellow Brazilian Ramires who flew past Nani and was fouled, but the ball was with Anelka and referee Atkinson played on. The low cross was perfect for Malouda to strike but he hit it straight at Van der Sar. That was disappointing.
On 11 minutes Malouda was involved again, pushing a ball ahead that Essien forced through a tackle but then had a shot deflected wide.
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